The 19-year-old Canadian has emerged as a title threat at the U.S. Open with her big shots and a creative game

Women’s tennis continues to add fresh talent, with five players age 24 or younger remaining in the U.S. Open. At the start of the season, no one had thought Bianca Andreescu would be one of them.

Then she went berserk.

Before this year began, Andreescu, now age 19, had played just one match at a major, back in 2017. But Andreescu is playing in the quarterfinals at the Open on Wednesday night, having gone from No. 178 at the end of 2018 all the way up to No. 14 this summer.

Andreescu has made a rapid rise from obscurity this year. She reached a final in New Zealand in the first tournament of the year. At the Australian Open, she won three qualifying matches and reached the second round. She won a title in Newport Beach and, in March, she won the prestigious Indian Wells tournament. On her way to the title, she beat both Elina Svitolina and Angelique Kerber in three sets. (Svitolina reached the semifinal at the Open on Tuesday.)

After retiring during a match in Miami, she missed time before the French Open due to a shoulder injury. She came back and won one match at Roland Garros before withdrawing ahead of the second round as her shoulder wasn’t fully healed. In August, she returned in Toronto and took the title after Serena Williams had to retire in the final because of back spasms.

As Andreescu continues to win at the Open, she has a chance to reach the final without having to beat a Slam winner.

“It feels awesome,” Andreescu said of her success this season. “I’ve been working and dreaming of this moment for a really long time, so it feels pretty damn good.”

Bianca Andreescu has been perfect against players in the top 10 this year.
Photo:
Elsa/Getty Images

Andreescu was born in Mississauga, Ontario, but her parents returned the family to Romania, their native country. Andreescu began playing tennis at age 7. Four years later, her family returned to Canada and joined the National Training Centre in Toronto.

One of Andreescu’s favorite players is no surprise: Romanian Simona Halep. But Andreescu is not like Halep on the court. Halep runs fast and hits consistent balls. Andreescu hits bigger shots and is creative, especially for her age.

“She is powerful, but she is blessed with really great hands,” said Sylvain Bruneau, who has coached Andreescu since March last year. “She’s also really creative on the court and she’s able to use different spins and different angles, which is useful.”

Andreescu has been near the top of her peers for years. In 2014, she won the 14-and-under title at Les Petit As, a prestigious event in France. In the Orange Bowl in Florida, she won that event two years in a row, at ages 14 and 15. In 2017, Andreescu beat Kristina Mladenovic in Washington, D.C. That win against Mladenovic, who was No. 13 at the time, made Andreescu the first player born in the 2000s who had beaten a top-20 player.

This season, Andreescu has been perfect against players in the top 10 (she’s 7-0). Andreescu defeated Karolina Pliskova, Svitolina and Kerber (Andreescu has beaten Kerber twice). Andreescu also has a lot of variety. Taylor Townsend upset Halep by attacking with volleys. Andreescu hit more shots in the middle, low and fast, and often went up to the net herself before Townsend could.

Andreescu’s success this year was unexpected. Young players take time to develop and their coaches have to be patient. Andreescu also wasn’t sure if she could play this summer, as she had to rehab her shoulder and strengthen her serve. She spent three weeks in Arizona with the hope to be able to play in August.

“Honestly we had no expectations in Toronto,” Bruneau said. “None, zero.”

Bianca Andreescu poses with the trophy after defeating Angelique Kerber to win the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, Calif.
Photo:
Ringo Chiu/Zuma Press

In her quarterfinal on Wednesday night, Andreescu will play against Elise Mertens, from Belgium. Mertens, age 23, has dropped the fewest games of any quarterfinalist through four rounds. She is powerful and aggressive.

If Andreescu keeps winning, she would next play against either Belinda Bencic or Donna Vekić. If she goes into the final, she might take on Williams. Williams is still searching for her 24th Grand Slam title to match Margaret Court’s record.

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